The Rabbit Dichotomy

I know what you're thinking - why on earth has she called it that? Bear with me. 

We spent part of the day today at the headquarters of the Guides du Rwanda, learning about the fantastic work which they do in the community.  We had a tour of their beautiful centre, which is a community building which includes an IT suite, a room for HIV testing, counselling rooms; they also give out contraceptives.  The building is open to the whole community, up to the age of 25.  What a great example of Guiding meeting the needs of the local community.  This is something which Guides du Rwanda are well-known for, building partnerships within the community and really meeting the needs which are there.  Tomorrow we are travelling all the way to the Tanzanian border to visit Rukira, for a 'community immersion' experience, where we will learn about how Guides du Rwanda have partnered with this community.  More on that story later.

We were greeted by a spectacular display of singing from local Brownies and Guides, all dressed so smartly, in their formal attire.  As we processed in, a Brownie took us each by the hand, whilst we paraded between a guard of honour from the Guides.  It was beautiful.  There was a chorus of singing from more local members, who had been given time off school to welcome us. We had a wonderful afternoon having a tour of the premises, meeting with the Guides, buying souvenirs and chatting with the Guides.  I spent some time with the teenage Guides, as one of them had drawn a cartoon strip of a man who is a perpetrator of violence against his wife, his children, and his girlfriend.  The whole things was written in Kinyarwanda, the local language, but the girl who designed it talked me through the whole thing, in English and French.  I have been speaking a lot of French here, as Rwanda was francophone until quite recently, and there are a lot of Leaders here from francophone countries - Cote d'Ivoire, Congo-Brazzaville, DRC, Burkina Faso, Burundi.  My French is ok, but I'm not very good at translating, as Betty from DRC informed me earlier when she pointed at a Rwandan guide and said 'elle est mieux', which means 'she is better'.  Fair point.

There was a huge rainstorm at the Rwanda Guide HQ recently, which wrecked the hall.  Thanks to various bodies, including Africa Region, the Fifth World Centre pilot and... the Trefoil Guild of... the UK, it is being redone.  It is a huge hall, equipped to host all sorts of community events.  This is true Guiding in the community.

So, the rabbit.  There were a series of stalls manned by local Guides and Scouts.  One of them had a sign which said 'lapin'.  This means 'rabbit'.  There were two very small cardboard boxes on the table, both of which contained a white rabbit.  I started chatting to the Guide Leaders, about the rabbit, such as the name, the age etc.  I asked if I could cuddle it, as I haven't cuddled a rabbit for some time.  The Leader nodded, then she scooped up the rabbit.  By the ears.  I couldn't quite believe it.  I insisted she put it back in the box as there was no way I was taking it by the ears.  This made me think.  Can you imagine picking up a rabbit at home by the ears? I can't.  Maybe you can.  I chatted to them and it transpired that the rabbit was set to become a meal in the fairly near future.  Hence not giving it a name.  Someone suggested that one could be called 'lunch' and the other 'dinner'.  But this made me think a lot about culture.  Here, if you need to pick up a rabbit, you pick it up by the ears.  At home, if you picked up a rabbit by the ears, you would probably be arrested.  Where am I going with this? There are acute differences within the cultures which we represent, even here at this event.  Transpose this onto the wider context, and it brings up all sorts of issues around cultural acceptance and understanding.  Think beyond the rabbit.  

Ok, moving back, we spent some time today working through the STV toolkit, as well as thinking of the issues associated with resourcing our project, thinking about the volunteers and staff available, funding, getting the message out, social media, like Twitter and Facebook.  I didn't used to be on Facebook, then I realised I didn't have any friends.  And Twitter - well, I came late to that, but now realise it is extremely useful for soundbites, links, and rhyming quips.  Social media is extremely useful for campaigning, and for raising awareness.

We had a free night tonight, so I ran a comedy improvisation workshop for anyone who wanted to attend.  In the last month, I have run comedy improvisation workshops at two World Centres of Guiding - Our Cabana and the Fifth World Centre.  If you want some light relief from this blog, you could read my Mexico blog.  Comedy impro is so much fun, and can be used in so many situations.  Sarah from Canada kindly translated my workshop into French, which added to the entertainment as often impro doesn't make much sense in English, so translating it is an interesting concept.  We had great fun playing a series of impro games, with new friends from Pakistan, Rwanda, Ireland, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Greece, DRC, Burundi, UK, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso.  Good  times.

Ok I'll leave it there for tonight - we have to be up early to leave at 7am to travel to Rukira, so I will say farewell. Do write comments, if the mood takes you, and share this with your friends.  

This is an incredible project to be part of.  We are making history by piloting the Fifth World Centre of Guiding.   Very exciting stuff.  Goodnight.